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Home -> 5785 -> Toldos

ויעתר יצחק לד' לנכח אשתו

Sruly Schnair
In Toldos, 5785

Yitzchak entreated Hashem opposite his wife. (25:21)

They both prayed.  Rivkah Imeinu prayed on her own behalf.  Yitzchak Avinu also prayed on her behalf.  He knew that, as part of Hashem’s promise to Avraham Avinu, he would be blessed with progeny.  He entreated Hashem that Rivkah should be the mother of his children.  Twenty years is a long time to pray for something.  Apparently, they were prepared to continue praying until Rivkah conceived and gave birth to a healthy child. It was not just about having a child, but rather, they sought to serve as a link in the Patriarchal continuum which laid the foundation of the…

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Home -> 5785 -> Toldos

ויעתר יצחק לד' לנכח אשתו

Sruly Schnair
In Toldos, 5785

Yitzchak entreated Hashem opposite his wife. (25:21)

Both Yitzchak Avinu and RIvkah Imeinu prayed fervently for a child.  The Kaf HaChaim (281:8) cites the Sefer Chesed LaAlafim who states: “We have a kabbalah, tradition, handed down from Rav Yehudah HaChasid who taught that when one is confronted with a difficult challenge, committing to recite the Nishmas prayer (we recite Nishmas on Shabbos and Yom Tov at the end of Pesukei D’Zimra.  We also recite it at the end of the Pesach seder) in the presence of a minyan is a segulah for deliverance.  The tefillah is attributed to Rav Elazar Azkari, who lived in Tzfas during the…

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Home -> 5785 -> Chayei Sarah

ויבא אברהם לספד לשרה ולבכתה

Sruly Schnair
In Chayei Sarah, 5785

Avraham came to eulogize Sarah and to bewail her. (23:2)

In his hesped, eulogy, of Horav Meir Chadash zl, Horav Elazar M. Shach, zl, quoted the words of the Midrash, Va’yavo, And Avraham came- Where did he come from? Rabbi Levi said, ‘He came from the grave of his father, Terach, (He had attended to his father’s burial) Rabbi Yosi asks “But Terach died two years before Sarah? (How could you say that he came from Terach’s funeral?) Thus, we must say that he came from Har Ha’Moriah (from Akeidas Yitzchak)”. On the surface there is no way to reconcile these two diverse opinions. Two years is a time difference that cannot…

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Home -> 5785 -> Vayeira

והאלקים נסה את אברהם

Sruly Schnair
In Vayeira, 5785

And G-d tested Avraham. (22:1)

In Judasim, mesiras nefesh, self-sacrifice is about aligning one’s life with Hashem’s will, even at great personal cost.  One must be prepared to go as far as making the ultimate sacrifice in order to demonstrate his consummate dedication to Torah and mitzvos.  The rosh ha’maaminim, head of the faithful, Avraham Avinu, demonstrated his unequivocal conviction throughout his life.  It reached its crescendo during Akeidas Yitzchak, the Binding of Yitzchak, when the Patriarch acquiesced to sacrificing his only beloved son and successor, Yitzchak Avinu. Someone who is studying Chumash for the first time may wonder: What is all the great to-do…

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Home -> V'zos HaBrachah -> 5785

ולזבולון אמר שמח זבולון בצאתך ויששכר באהליך

Sruly Schnair
In 5785, V'zos HaBrachah

To Zevulun, he said: Zevulun, rejoice in your going out; and Yissachar, in your tents. (33:18)

Apparently, Moshe Rabbeinu’s preferred style for conferring blessing differed from that of Yaakov Avinu. Our Patriarch showered his sons with long, flowery blessings. Moshe, on the other hand, sufficed with brevity. Yaakov’s blessing to Dan consisted of two pesukim, while Moshe’s a mere five words. Zevulun and Yissachar’s blessing from the Patriarch was a litany of three pesukim. Moshe’s blessing to Zevulun was not short, but the blessing he conferred upon Yissachar was a single word: B’ahalecha, “(You shall rejoice) in your tents.” On the surface we may suggest that Yaakov was addressing his sons. Thus, he did not rush…

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Home -> V'zos HaBrachah -> 5785

ויקבר אתו בגי

Sruly Schnair
In 5785, V'zos HaBrachah

And He buried him in the depression. (34:6)

According to one exposition of Rashi, the Torah alludes to the idea that Moshe Rabbenu buried himself. Nothing is above Hashem and His relationship with Moshe. Indeed, we have no manner of fathoming our leader’s greatness. Thus, burying himself, although certainly possible, is a concept that eludes us. Perhaps, the following story might shed some light on this idea. While no mortal can possibly bury himself, he could perform acts of kindness that earn him a place of burial which, for all intents and purposes, would have otherwise probably not have occurred, as was the case in the following story….

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Home -> Ha'azinu -> 5784

זכור ימות עולם בינו שנות דור ודור

Sruly Schnair
In 5784, Ha'azinu

Remember the days of yore, understand the years of generation after generation. (32:7)

Moshe Rabbeinu pleads with the Jewish nation to wake up from its self-imposed slumber and ponder the lessons to be gleaned from the past. A refusal to delve into the occurrences of the past and what preceded various adversities, a lack of perspective, has become the basis of much human error. We are blessed with gedolei Torah, Torah sages, whose perspective on the past is honed by a wisdom borne of penetrating analysis of Torah and the wisdom and Divine Assistance that results from such immersion in it. Furthermore, as has been noted by many, we have no Hebrew word…

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Home -> 5784 -> Nitzavim

אם יהיה נדחך בקצה השמים משם יקבצך ד' אלקיך ומשם יקחך

Sruly Schnair
In Nitzavim, 5784

If your dispersed will be at the ends of the Heavens, from there Hashem, your G-d, will gather you in, and from there He will take you. (30:4)

Simply, the Torah is teaching us that, regardless of how entrenched the people are in their false beliefs and practices, if they repent, Hashem will welcome them home. Indeed, He will return them to the fold. Alternatively, the Torah is teaching us that, if a Jew’s relationship with his religion is even so minimal that he is barely hanging on to the ends of Heaven, Hashem will take him back. He has not completely revoked his relationship with the religion of his forebears. Every Jew has that pintele Yid, spark of the Divine, the Yiddishe neshamah within him, that regardless…

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Home -> 5784 -> Ki Savo

ולקחת מראשית פרי האדמה... והלכת אל המקום אשר יבחר ד' אלקיך שמו שם

Sruly Schnair
In Ki Savo, 5784

And you shall take the first of every fruit of the ground… and go to the place that Hashem, your G-d, will choose to make His Name rest there. (26:2)

The mitzvah of Bikkurim, offering the first fruits, is a mitzvah which teaches us the importance of hakoras hatov, recognizing and paying gratitude to Hashem, and, by extension, to everyone and anyone from whom we have benefited. Parashas Ki Savo, which commences with the laws of Bikkurim, begins with the concept of gratitude to Hashem for the wonderful crop we have been fortunate to yield. We most often read this parshah on the Shabbos preceding the last week of the year, as a portent that Tichleh shanah v’kilelosehah v’tacheil shanah u’birkosehah, “Let the past year with its curses come to…

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Home -> 5784 -> Ki Savo

ברוך אתה בבאיך וברוך אתה בצאתך

Sruly Schnair
In Ki Savo, 5784

Blessed shall you be when you come in and blessed shall you be when you go out. (28:6)

Chazal (Devarim Rabbah 7:5) explain that one should leave this world as free of sin as when he entered the world at birth. Rabbi Berachyah says, “Shlomo Hamelech says in Koheles (3:2), Eis laledes v’eis lamus, ‘There is a time to be born and a time to die.’ Do we not know this? Everyone is born and we will all one day leave this world. (What is Shlomo Hamelech teaching us?) Fortunate is he whose moment of death is like his moment of birth – innocent, pure of sin.” Is the sole purpose of man to leave this world as…

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